Providing responsible, affordable financial services that make a difference to people’s lives.
Where is your project based?
National service (telephone and online).
What problem are you solving?
Our mission is to provide responsible and affordable financial services that make a difference to people’s lives. Small sum personal loans can be hard for some customers to access; either due to their credit history or their financial status. This kind of credit is often needed to balance finances before outlays on high-cost items such as white goods or furnishings. Whilst there are lenders who will offer credit, they can consider people on low incomes a risk and therefore charge excessive levels of interest.
How do you do this?
As a not-for-dividend company without shareholders, and as a member of Responsible Finance, our personal loan service is a reliable alternative to doorstep lenders, providing our customers with affordable credit so they don’t have to turn to higher cost lending. This saves our customers an average of £20 per month when compared with the average doorstep loan – which helps greatly when managing small budgets. Our loans enable customers to access credit at a much lower cost when buying essential items such as furniture. We also signpost customers to other financial products that might help them; such as tenant-specific contents insurance and budgeting accounts, and we can even refer them to free debt advice charities if necessary.
What difference are you making?
Since 2006, we have provided more than 11,000 loans, which has saved customers an average of £235 per loan – which equates to more than £2.5m in potential interest payments saved by our customers.
